


The Things That Take Us Back

by J_D_McCormick



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: ? i think lol, Gen, Joker Junior - Freeform, PTSD, Sorry Tim, Trauma, based on that whole bit in Return Of Joker, is mentioned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-01
Updated: 2018-04-01
Packaged: 2019-04-17 01:35:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14177718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/J_D_McCormick/pseuds/J_D_McCormick
Summary: “Timmy, it’s me, it’s Dick. Come on buddy, look at me.” He shakes Tim a little, placing a hand on his cheek and trying to get him to look at him, but the younger boy’s eyes stay downcast, seeming to look past Dick and straight through the floor. “Shit. Jason, go get Bruce.”“What? What the fuck, what the hell is wrong with him?!” Jason demands, his voice loud from confusion and uneasiness.“Just go get Bruce, now.” Dick snaps.





	The Things That Take Us Back

**Author's Note:**

> You all thought my time in this fandom would be nothing but fluff with Damian.... but oh no.... this is a fandom made for Pain and I am the Master of Pain.
> 
> I really like exploring psychology of characters and obviously exploring Tim Drake after his capture by the Joker is like, a goldmine. So I wrote this to explore some of my Fun Headcanons about Tim Drake Suffering.

The atmosphere in the Batcave is fairly light, which is an uncommon but happy occurrence. Tim is busy going through files on the Batcomputer, going over details for a case he’s working – nothing too serious, but interesting enough for him to have taken it on. Dick is sat on a counter, making his way through some snacks that Alfred had brought down for them. Over the other side of the cave, Jason is sparring with a punching bag, filling the space with clatters and dull thuds.

“You know, Dick, you really shouldn’t eat all of the snacks. Alfred meant for us to share them.” Tim says, briefly looking up from the screens to watch Dick devour another sandwich.

“I’m not eating all of them.” Dick protests, muffled through the bread in his mouth. “Jason’s just not one for sandwiches. I’m saving the chips for him.”

“Did you consider I might want a sandwich?” Tim asks, reaching over to snatch one before Dick really does eat them all.

“No, because you live almost entirely off coffee, Red Bull, and chocolate. I wasn’t aware you ate actual people food.” Dick says, grinning. Tim rolls his eyes and tuts, grabbing himself another sandwich and a glass of juice.

“He’s been at it a while. You should let him know Alfie brought him water, at least.” He says offhandedly as he turns back to the computer.

“Probably.” Dick agrees, then cups a hand to his mouth. “Oi, Jay! Refreshments!”

Tim freezes. Suddenly the sounds of the cave seem washed out and far away – he doesn’t hear Jason stop punching the punching bag and start making his way over. His mind is playing different sounds, voices, things he hasn’t heard so clearly in a long while.

_“Hmm, well, Robin certainly won’t do as a name. And Timothy just doesn’t do it for me either. Hum, hum… I know! We’ll call you Joker Jr! You can be JJ for short.”_

_“JJ, puddin’, you’ll be good for Mama if she lets you out of the restraints, won’t ya?”_

_“Fetch me that jack-in-a-box, won’t you Jay? That’s a good lad.”_

_“Lil’ Jay, you’re doin’ so well.”_

_“Come on, Jay – **smile**.”_

Tim doesn’t hear as Jason makes his way to the main platform of the cave, doesn’t even seem to notice him as he makes his way to the Batcomputer console. Jason, on the other hand, does notice that Tim is sat ramrod straight, shaking in his seat.

“What happened to Replacement? Caffeine jitters finally catch up to him?” He asks jokingly. Tim doesn’t respond, not even a tut or shake of the head, and Jason frowns a little. He reaches out to slap Tim’s shoulder lightly. “Oi, Tim?”

This time, Tim responds – violently. He jerks out of his seat and away from the touch, a startled noise escaping him that morphs into a cackle. He backs himself up against the console, his whole body jittering as he continues giggling unnervingly. Despite this, his eyes are wide and frightened.

“What the fuck…” Jason swears, taking a step back and watching Tim warily. Dick, on the other hand, leaps up from his place on the counter and quickly moves close to Tim.

“Hey, Tim? Timmy, can you hear me?” He calls, trying to hide the frantic tone in his voice as he takes Tim’s shoulders and squeezes them gently. “Timmy, it’s me, it’s Dick. Come on buddy, look at me.” He shakes Tim a little, placing a hand on his cheek and trying to get him to look at him, but the younger boy’s eyes stay downcast, seeming to look past Dick and straight through the floor. “Shit. Jason, go get Bruce.”

“What? What the fuck, what the hell is wrong with him?!” Jason demands, his voice loud from confusion and uneasiness.

“Just go get Bruce, _now_.” Dick snaps. That spurs Jason into action – Dick hardly ever takes more than a firm mentoring voice with them, and if his words are sharp then something is seriously wrong. Jason tosses down his towel as he runs up the stairs of the cave to the manor proper. Tim’s hysteric laughing follows him and sends a shiver up his back. It makes him sound mad.

He finds Bruce in the library with Damian – the youngest of the brood is reclined gracefully on a couch, his nose buried in a book, and Bruce sits nearby, tapping away at the keys of a laptop and looking over a sheaf of papers. Both of them look up sharply when Jason throws the door open.

“You know, Todd, it is considered common courtesy to-” Damian starts, but Jason cuts him off urgently.

“Bruce, you gotta get down to the cave. Tim’s having some kind of freak out, I have no idea what the fuck happened.” He says. Bruce’s face immediately sets and he stands quickly.

“Damian, stay here.” He says, voice rough and commanding. Damian blinks and begins to protest.

“Father-”

“No. _Stay here_ , Damian.” Bruce has that no-nonsense tone of voice that he gets when he’s really serious about something – usually, it comes about in the field, but sometimes he brings it out for Stern Dad moments. Jason sees Damian frown a little – though he looks more confused than put out – before he hurries to follow after Bruce.

“What happened.” Bruce demands across the cave as he sweeps in. Dick looks up from where he’s still crouched in front of Tim, gently stroking his hair back from his face. Tim’s laughter has died down into small, hiccupping little giggles, and his eyes look a little less far away.

“I dunno, he was totally fine, then I shouted for Jay and he noticed Tim shaking.” Dick says helplessly. Tim flinches a little, and the corners of his mouth twitch up into a grin again.

“It’s that name. That’s what Joker and Harley called him.” Bruce says. Dick’s expression falls a little further – Jason finds himself honestly surprised that it can, at the moment.

“Shit, I didn’t know-”

“I know, Dick. It’s alright. Let me get to him.” Bruce’s voice has softened, and he squeezes Dick’s shoulder gently before his eldest son moves out of the way and lets him take his place in front of Tim.

“Tim, it’s Bruce. I need you to listen to me.” He starts, taking Tim’s hands in his own and squeezing them gently. Tim’s eyes snap to Bruce’s face, and tears well in them. “I’m right here. I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere. I’m going to stay right by your side.” His voice is soft, a low rumble that Dick associates with late nights and comfort after nightmares, and makes Jason think of his first nights in the manor, under Bruce’s wing. His thumbs skim smoothly along the back of Tim’s hands. “Joker’s not here. You’re not with him anymore, Tim, you don’t have to be afraid of him. He can’t hurt you.”

“Joker?!” Jason hisses, looking over at Dick. The elder brother makes a gesture to shut him up, but nods. Jason swears softly under his breath.

“B-Bruce?” Tim manages to get out between his hitching breaths. Bruce lets go of one of his hands to stroke over his hair and cup his neck.

“Yeah, kid, it’s me.” Bruce says softly. Tim hiccups, and the half-cackles devolve into sobs. Bruce gently gathers Tim into his arms, though his son simply slumps against him rather than embracing back. “Shh, it’s alright. I’ve got you Tim, I’ve got you.”

“I-I’m sorry, I don’t know- I d-don’t know what…” The words barely make it out between Tim’s heaving breaths and sobs. Bruce hushes him again.

“Just a flashback, Tim. We’ve dealt with them before.” Bruce reassures. Dick frowns a little – it’s been a long while since Tim had serious flashbacks like this. The trauma still follows him in various ways, but flashbacks have become rare. Finally, Bruce looks to his older sons again. “Jason, fetch me a blanket. Dick, go and ask Alfred if he can prepare a warm drink for Tim.”

“Yessir.” Jason says, affecting a loose salute. Dick heads off with little more than a nod. Bruce turns his attention back to Tim, whose tears are slowly subsiding.

“I don’t even know why...” Tim takes a shuddering breath. “I don’t… That’s never happened before, not like that, usually it’s other things like…” He shivers a little, thinking of some of the other things that have triggered flashbacks in the past.

“It’s alright Tim.” Bruce murmurs, rubbing Tim’s back. “It’s something we never really worked on. Never thought we’d need to.” Jason hadn’t been around when they’d been helping Tim recover – and he hadn’t been brought back into the family until much after. There hadn’t been any need to consider their old nickname for him ever being brought up again – Bruce hadn’t even thought about the fact that it was so close to Joker’s name for Tim.

“I thought I was doing better…” Tim’s voice is quiet, almost lost where he hides his face against Bruce’s chest.

“And you are.” Bruce’s voice is firm. “But trauma isn’t as clear cut as that. It’s normal for things to surprise us and take us back. God knows I’ve had it happen enough to me.” He stands, urging Tim up with him, as Jason approaches them with a thick blanket in hand. He takes it with a nod, and carefully wraps it around Tim. Dick reappears as Bruce carefully leads Tim out of the Batcave.

“Alfred said he’d take the drinks to Tim’s room.” He says. He gives Tim a sad little smile and ruffles his hair gently. “You’ll be alright Timmy. Alfie’s hot chocolate can fix anything.”

Tim returns the smile a little shakily, and lets Bruce lead him out. Dick sighs, shoulders drooping a bit as he makes his way down the rest of the stairs and starts making sure all the left over snacks are put onto the tray Alfred brought them down on. Jason watches him for a moment.

“Well, that was fucked up.” He speaks up eventually. Dick sighs and looks over at him.

“You remember when Tim was taken, and Bruce spent months looking for him?” He asks.

“Yeah. ‘S why I came back to Gotham. I was pissed that he spent so long going after him.” Jason nods. They’ve moved past this now, mostly, but it had been part of the reason Jason became Red Hood and wreaked havoc around Gotham for months.

“Well, it was Joker that took him. He kept him in this sick little torture lab for months.” Jason can hear anger bleeding through in Dick’s tone. “He was trying to make him into another Joker. And god, he totally broke him. You didn’t see him when he came back, Jase. It was… God, it was horrible. It was like he was barely there.”

“Joker’s a sick bastard.” Jason huffs, shaking his head. Dick nods.

“He’s doing much better now. There’s still little things – like, he laughs when he’s nervous, now. He never used to do that.” Dick murmurs. “But he’s not so scared all the time anymore. Usually we’re pretty good at avoiding the things that set him off but… I guess we never thought of this one.”

“Good thing you’ve got plenty of spare nicknames up your sleeve then, Dickiebird.” Jason says, crossing over to Dick and clapping his shoulder. “Come on, stop moping. You didn’t know, Brucie didn’t know – hell it sounds like even Tim didn’t know. He’ll be alright now, Bruce is taking care of him.”

Dick gives a small humourless chuckle. “I still feel bad. The evening was going so well…”

“Well, don’t. Ain’t no point in it now.” Jason tells him. He grabs up the tray. “Come on, if we clear up and get in Alfred’s good books, maybe we’ll get hot chocolates too.”

This time, Dick’s laugh has a bit more humour in it. “Or you could just ask for one. I’m sure Alfred wouldn’t mind.” He points out, but he follows Jason anyway.

Jason’s right. Tonight all they can do is leave Tim in Bruce’s care and trust that he’ll get through it. He’s done it before – Dick is certain he can do it again. For now, Dick follows Jason out of the cave to go and bother Alfred for hot chocolate. He reckons they all need it.

**Author's Note:**

> Father and son bonding with the Waynes - sit in silence in the library together while you do your own things. (It works well for them.)
> 
> Feedback as always welcome and encouraged!! Thank you for reading.


End file.
